Nothing but Internet – Again

Uncle shoots and maybe scores.

The NRA has picked up my story about Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam being a member of the anti-gun Mayors Alliance that is funded by Joyce Foundation (See here, here, here, here, here, and here). Wayne LaPierre (yes, that Wayne LaPierre) asks What’s going on in Knoxville:

Here’s a suggestion for Mayor Haslam and the citizens of Knoxville.

Ask Mike Bloomberg to take your name off his website and list. Tell Bloomberg that you don’t want New York City style gun control laws in Tennessee!

I sent a comment to the mayor’s office and received a response from a Cathy Chesney, Office of Policy Development, City of Knoxville, who gave me the “boiler plate” BS but didn’t answer my questions. Seems that you only get one shot (pun intended) with the mayor’s office and then they ignore you. To me, Mayor Halam’s office is ducking the questions concening his being a member of Bloomberg’s “Alliance of Mayors Against Guns.” Guess he has figured out the saying, “It isn’t the guns, stupid, it’s the criminals.”

BulletBillSR

To: Mayor
Cc: cchesney@cityofknoxville.org
Subject: Still really disappointed
Date: Oct 11, 2006 2:57 PM
Nice try Cathy Chesney but you didn’t come close to touching on the issue which was about Haslam JOINING Mayor Bllomberg’s “Alliance of Mayors Against Guns.” Mayor Bloomberg is a very virulent anti gun person and supports all kinds of anti gun legislation. While the “Statement of Principle” leaves something to be desired, I am more concerned that Mayor Haslam has JOINED Bloomberg’s anti gun AMAG.

Michael Silence had these observations on his web blog and I have to agree with him:
Then the mayor has picked the wrong group to join. For example, they oppose H.R. 5092, the BATFE Modernization and Reform Act. The oppose just about every pro-gun bill coming down the pike.
They support microstamping. They support maintaining a registry of gun offenders. They support suing gun dealers.

HR 5092 was a bill to reform the BATFE, formerly known as BATF or “Burn All Toddlers First,” after their PR scheme at the Branch Davidian;s home in Waco Texas was burned to the ground, killing some 80 women and children. Micro stamping would drive the cost of ammunition out of sight as it calls for EACH individual bullet to be stamped with a unique number. President Bush has already signed the bill to prevent Bloomberg and his cronies from filing frivilous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and FFL dealers. Nobody sues General Motors when their cars are involved in a deadly accident, and suing gun manufacturers for misuse of their products by criminal doesn’t make any sense either’ however, Mayor Bloomberg supports these ideas.

The “Statement of Principles” is nothing more than a piece of “feel good” legislation but the major problem is Haslam JOINING Bloomberg’s “Alliance.” It would also be intersting to know what Mayor Haslam’s definition of an “illegal gun” is. Guns are inantimate objects and cannot in and of themselves break any laws. It takes a criminal to misue a gun.

Your response did nothing to allay my concerns. I just can’t fathom why Mayor Haslam would join an anti gun alliance. This certainly won’t sit well with many of us in Knoxville or Tennessee.

The Mayor signed a Statement of Principles against illegal guns. This is an effort to protect our citizens and our neighborhoods from violence as a result of illegal activities including possession of illegal firearms. I have attached the Statement of Principles for your review. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is working to help Mayors across the country with problems in our cities and this is just one of those initiatives.

I realize that you and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York are both republicans but it seems a dumb stunt to join his “Alliance of Mayors against Guns.” We expect New Yorkers to be anti gun but not those in Tennessee. Bloomberg has waged war against legitimate gun dealers to include his infamous “sting” to entrap law abiding gun dealers. To support such a violation of our second amendment rights is a travesty. If Bloomberg would spend more time and money chasing down criminals as opposed to law abiding gun dealer, the crime rate in NYC would go down. To sum it up, it’s not the gun, it’s the criminals. Of course I suppose it is asking too much for you not to follow in the anti gun footsteps of Mayor Victor Ashe who sponsored a number of “gun buybacks” in Knoxville. You’re a smart guy but joining Bloomberg’s Alliance against Guns is not the smartest thing you have done recently. It’s still the criminals, not the guns. I’m quite disappointed to learn you have this anti gun bias.

[…] member of the anti-gun Mayors Against Illegal Guns that is funded by the Joyce Foundation – summary here and all posts here) has announced his plans for a second term: Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam today […]